We don't have to splash the cash to fix our water crisis

The nation's supply is a pressing issue - but there may be an alternative to costly nationalisation

-  Chris Blackhurst

It was always going to happen, of course. Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, went paddleboarding on Lake Windermere for an election photocall and fell in five times. He was there to support local candidate and former party leader Tim Farron. But in making a splash, the serious message was about water quality.

Back in February, Windermere was hit with a large raw sewage spillage. Pollution has become a cause célèbre, with showbusiness stars joining locals to rage against the water company, United Utilities, for making Windermere unfit for swimming and harming the natural habitat. So, Ed staying afloat was never an option. The giveaway life jacket said he would fall in as many times as it took for the photographers to do their work.

Windermere has joined Brixham, where the water was found to contain a sickness-inducing parasite; the Thames, where competitors in the recent Boat Race were advised not to swallow the water if they fell in because of the presence of E coli from sewage; the Thames again, as Thames Water is sending samples of water to a laboratory for testing after dozens reported being sick with vomiting and diarrhoea in southeast London; and swathes of the coastline, where swimming and fishing have been impossible due to contamination from sewer overflows. Much of it has been caused by disrepair and lack of investment, in a country that regards itself as highly developed.

The state of the nation’s water has become a major issue, bringing into sharp focus the ideology behind utility privatisations. They always did divide opinion, their backers claiming supply would be better off in private hands and muchneeded investment would result. Opponents disagreed, and in the case of water especially, argued it really was a sale too far – that water, an entirely natural product and essential for human life, could not, should not, be a profit-generating commodity.